Samsung Galaxy Note Headed for T-Mobile in 'Coming Weeks'

By Michelle Maisto |
Posted 2012-07-17

T-Mobile will begin selling the Samsung
Galaxy Note in the coming weeks, the carrier announced July 16, positioning
the device as both enterprise savvy and able to meet consumers desire for a
tremendous smartphone.

The Galaxy Note, with its 5.3-inch
high-definition Super AMOLED (active-matrix organic LED) touch-screen display,
would seem sure tablet territory. If not at least phablet
territory. But no, T-Mobile reports that the Note now has the largest
screen on any T-Mobile smartphonewhich is just how folks like it.

A recent T-Mobile survey showed 77 percent
of consumers prefer a device with a 4.5-inch or larger display, rather than a
smaller screen, T-Mobile said in its statement. Samsung, if not the source of
this trend, is certainly hip to it, offering also the Galaxy S III with a
4.8-inch display.

The Note measures 5.78 by 3.27 by 0.38 (have
fun putting that in your pocket). It runs Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich,
and a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 processor, can access T-Mobiles 4G (HSPA+ 42) network
and has a rear-facing 8MP camera and a 2MP camera up-front. With a qualifying
plan, it supports WiFi Calling and can act as a mobile HotSpot for up to five
devices.

Theres the option of the S Pen stylus, for
annotating documents and taking notes; S Memo, for easily creating typewritten,
handwritten or voice-dictated memos; and S Note, which creates templates for
seven commonly used documents, to add a bit of professionalism.

The Note also comes with the T-Mobile 4G Pro
App Packa selection of applications, including Dropbox and Evernote, that
business users are likely to be interested in.

By providing an easy path to cloud services,
such as Dropbox and Evernote, T-Mobile helps professionals easily store and
access the documents, files, images and notes that will help them better manage
their work from virtually anywhere, said T-Mobile.

But recommending the Note most to the
enterprise are its Samsung Approved for Enterprise (SAFE) credentials. SAFE
offers IT policy support for mobile-device-management (MDM) services, on-device
encryption and support for Microsoft Exchange and virtual private network (VPN)
solutions, among other features.

In addition to larger screens, today
customers demand more from their devices, from having safeguarded access to
corporate email and other productivity features to being able to rely on a
speedy network for streaming content, Andrew Morrison, T-Mobile vice president
of product management, said in a statement. He added that with the Note in
T-Mobiles lineup, it is even better equipped to help our customers strike the
perfect balance as they juggle both professional and personal activities.

The nations fourth-largest network has been
keeping busy this summer searching for a new CEO. On June 27, the company
announced the resignation
of Philipp Humm, who it was later reported is joining Vodafone, a European
rival of T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom.

Its also at work on an LTE-based 4G network,
using assets it acquired through AT&Ts failed 2011 bid to purchase the
smaller carrier. Calling the $4 billion effort a network modernization
strategy, it will improve T-Mobiles voice and data coverage, further its
business-to-business (B2B) opportunities and enable it to support more
devicesmost notably the Apple iPhone.

T-Mobile originally planned to launch the
network this year and begin selling LTE-enabled devices in 2013, but now the
network will go live in 2013, interim CEO Jim Alling said in a June 27 letter
to employees. He added that T-Mobiles recently penned deal with Verizoncontroversial,
to be surewill help it improve its spectrum position in 15 of the top 25
markets.

Alling added that while T-Mobile is in a
tech-based industry, I firmly believe [it is] a people-based business.